Houses in the Lower 9th Ward aren't considered the priciest or most luxurious homes in the area, but they still have a lot of character. Older houses built by skilled craftsmen of an earlier time benefited from numerous decorative touches that made a house unique. The cornice work, the under-eave brackets, everything was done to make the house stand out.

In the hidden corners of the Holy Cross neighborhood, it's still easy to find these distinctive touches, but after Katrina architectural thieves struck the city in force, ripping out valuable features and rare wood details that gave many homes their charm. Most of these houses survived at least two floods -- Hurricane Betsy in 1965, and, of course, Katrina forty years later -- but it was greed that caused the owners of these homes such headaches.

Here in the photo is the front eave over a house near Jackson Barracks. You can see the discolored spot where the finely detailed brackets used to be, and the hole where there used to be a metal vent cover. The owner of this home replaced the missing parts with cut plywood, but it might be a while before he or she finds a craftsman up to the task of replicating the stolen goods.